A bankruptcy court judge in Delaware has allowed Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to buy Midway Games, which filed for bankruptcy in February.

Warner Bros. will pay $33 million to acquire the ailing company, Gamespot reports. Popular Midway assets, such as Mortal Kombat, will change hands to Warner Bros. The sale technically still needs to be closed, but with the judge waiving a 10-day waiting provision, the deal is essentially sealed.

Not all of Midway’s property is likely to be spared. Studios in Newcastle and San Diego weren’t included in the acquisition, leaving just 60 days for them to find another buyer, Joystiq reports.

I suppose I’m interested to see what Warner Bros. can do with this seemingly cursed property. Midway hadn’t turned an annual operating profit since 1999, according to a thorough Gamasutra story on the company, and just before the bankruptcy it had a debt of $150 million.

As I said back in February, Midway has for a long time seemed like a company starved for ideas. It’s best remembered for arcade classics, such as NBA Jam and Ms. Pac-Man rather than console blockbusters. Amazingly, there is a ninth Mortal Kombat in the works, and I imagine it’ll at least be profitable development, albeit a stale one. So maybe the deal makes sense from a business perspective, but as a gamer this is a sad end for a once-great gaming company.

 
1 Comment


Read more: Gaming, Midway